The state we’re in

Paul Kelly: The old political order is dying with Kevin Rudd caught in a maelstrom: the inexorable decline of state Labor, the rise of the Greens, the protracted death throes of the Nationals, and a new aggressive Senate come to plague his house.

Australian politics has no single trend. It is defined by multiple trends but they lead to one conclusion: the demise of political authority and an ebbing of reformist will as the tide of events throws politicians into an introspective defence of their decaying fortresses.